Guardians Raid Builds

Ok I want everyone to post their current raid specs and weapons, we have the best support class and most awesome raid toons itneh game, I feel like a god even in a pug raid as I can boost them through battles they would normally lose.

So can everyone post what weapons, armour, runes, secondary skills and traint builds they are using so we canmake sure we are all runnign the best specs we can for raiding.

You make sure you have retaliation up 100% of the time.
Because you have 55% Boon duration this won't be very hard.
Hit your enemy! Hitting is critting, critting means 7.5sec (every 5sec) vigor.
You should be able to have a 100% uptime with 22% crit chance.
I can stack 1m vigor!

You use this vigor to dodge heal and evade attacks.
You have 3 blocks ready for use every 40-50sec and 3 extra using the focus every 45sec.
You can avoid a lot of damage this way.

These are my stats with only foodbuff. (I use Quality Maintanence oil and Bowl Of Truffle Ravioli)

Armor :Full PVT armor with Boon duration runes (haven't got full rune set yet)
Accessories: Full PVT with berserker jewels.
Weapon: Berserker Greatsword with Precision stack sigil - Staff is PVT with restoration sigil, i switch to it when i feel i need more survival.

As someone mentioned on TS lastnight alot of these builds are terrible for raids... sorry but Firoz's build is very selfish, EVER BUILD should have at least 15 points in honor for the dodge heal but tbh you should be 30 points in that build for the condi remove as you'll get a fuck ton, stability from virtue of courage is also a must. And as i suspected seems everyones using GS instead of hammer

However, depending on the number of guardians you have in the raid, I wouldn't recommend everyone runs with sanctuary ( 3 at most? ), it's CD is just too damned high and wastes the lovely effect Pure of Voice has for your team. ( Especially if coupled with Soldier Runes - in the unlikely event you can afford to sacrifice boon duration, although 30 pts in Virtues might be enough ).

Possible variation: Given the amount of condition removal available with the build, you can probably safely move the 10 points from Valor into Radiance for Justice is Blind and Blind Exposure which are pretty powerful traits. ( especially if there are lots of GS users, as it gives insta-15 stacks of AOE vulnerability in the middle of a zerg ).

I think this is the actual issue.
I get it, guardians with legendaries that make cool effects are looking... cool. But shouldn't guardians be running with Hammer/Staff to begin with?

Its not just legendary users, i get why they use GS cos the #2 spin spin big numbers but overall it doesn't help the raid nearly as much as hammer, also on gates hammer gives aoe protection on the 3rd hit on hammer i'd image 3/4 guardians bashing away will have a long protection buff when the door goes down

I think this is the actual issue.
I get it, guardians with legendaries that make cool effects are looking... cool. But shouldn't guardians be running with Hammer/Staff to begin with?

I do agree that hammers are pretty usefull for teh combos and all, but graetswords are also useful, besides of better damage in meele range Symbol of Wrath + Wrilwind Wrath combo provides Cleansing bolts that provides aoe remove conditions so not completly useless, just saying

Personally I tend to stick with the a hammer in large scale WvW - however I would say a GS can be very good in open field skirmishes, since you get the pull/interrupts and the vulnerability and might stacking ( especially if you have Empowering Might ). The problem with the whirling condition cleanse is that it's random, and you have to be lucky to be struck by the bolts ( also the guardian doesn't benefit from it personally )

In open field, hammer's protection symbols get lost if your group is mobile ( the symbol centres on target ), and you may not be able to react in time to take advantage of blastable fields. The AoE is awesome however, and ring of warding and zealots embrace can cause a lot of disruption

I would suggest though that GS users at least switch to hammer when seiging.

Something I often do before attacking a tower is switch in Writ of Exultation and Writ of the Merciful and start to autoattack the door - the symbol usually large enough to encompass the siege operators ( or if it's catas next to a wall, you can run up and down the length, spreading symbols ), and they'll thank you for perma-protection and healing, and you can blast finish any water fields that get layed down ( or area retaliation when there's no water ) - a guardian with AH build can stay at the door even if it's being heavily defended.
This can be combined with a retrait for spirit weapon duration and SoA to give excellent ranged defense.

One last note on Writ of Exultation - it's pretty good in WvW. The problem with staff swiftness skill is that you can miss the tick if you've already got speed ( the mesmer speed line suffers from this much worse, but it still happens frequently on a guardian too ) - Bigger symbols mitigates this issue.

I do agree that hammers are pretty usefull for teh combos and all, but graetswords are also useful, besides of better damage in meele range Symbol of Wrath + Wrilwind Wrath combo provides Cleansing bolts that provides aoe remove conditions so not completly useless, just saying

There is alot of other skills that cleanse conditions, and all aoe combos have their utility depending of the scenario. But the GS doesnt have any blast finisher so it shouldnt be any doubt about using Hammer instead of it in the current raid playstyle.

There is alot of other skills that cleanse conditions, and all aoe combos have their utility depending of the scenario. But the GS doesnt have any blast finisher so it shouldnt be any doubt about using Hammer instead of it in the current raid playstyle.

I do agree on all that usefulness stuff all say about hammer\greatsword (i personaly use hammer to) but just saying not to bash on greatsword users because its also usefull in some cases

To be blunt Guardians don't need to use skill and traints to save them selves I am almost always the last person to die in almost any encounter large of small and I have never used save yourself once.

Utility skills I run with are always, Retreat/Sancuray, Hold The Line and Stand Your Ground anyone guardian not runnign the last two 100% of thetime and firing them 100% of the time in cooldown needs a kick in the nuts period.

Every Guardian should have the passive AOE healing from 30 honor and 20 Virtue and dodge heal.

Second weapons hammers yeah the 2 skill does a blast finsher btu they do alot more is played and used correctly, 1 give retailiation, 2 is a leap too to help engage, 3 is a los root, 4 totall fucken waste of time, 5 a fast cast without healing sancturay.

So you can buff in 2 ways and you have 2 CC skills if used corectly and the right skills used at the right time it hammers can be devastaing.

Greatswords, yes they have great strengths too, the AoE pull is awesome but I rarely see it getting used in fights, I used to leap, AoE pull then spin when i used to use a sword and it was great for fucking ppl up, I can't remember the last time I ever saw our guardians do that with a great sword maybe too eager to hit the win 2 win button when they can be more effective makign ti the third button in the opening sequence of an attack.

I certianly think the first 2 guardians in the riad are hammers, after that player preference, just like the first two eles should be staff.

If you only really risk using Save Yourselves before entering combat, then it becomes useless - the boons are there to counter the conditions you have pulled off your team-mates, and the need to be cleansed quickly. Either way it's probably better to cure conditions little and often rather than waste slots on Purity or blow Absolute Resolution when you've already just cleared everyone's conditions.

I think a lot of people still neglect Hold the Line because it was bugged with Pure of Voice pre-patch.

Every Guardian should have the passive AOE healing from 30 honor and 20 Virtue and dodge heal.

Judging by the builds posted alot dont use it..

And Tarqius is right people need to learn to use Save Yourselves at the right time, it was one of the mistakes i did when first started playing the guardian. Basically if you dont get a 4+ conditions when you use it you're doing it wrong